


Lies R Us

by Karieauthoress (ksrandomme), ksrandomme



Series: Deja Vu [6]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-26
Updated: 2009-03-26
Packaged: 2017-10-19 11:03:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ksrandomme/pseuds/Karieauthoress, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ksrandomme/pseuds/ksrandomme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Name's Brackett, Lee Brackett." Blair has a gift, he's simply having some trouble sorting it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lies R Us

  
Blair knocked on the door, the sound of a piano inside stuttering and coming to a halt and the sounds of cats yowling from within telling him that someone was indeed home. Cats? That was new, she never had cats before... did she? He didn't remember any at any rate. His musings were cut off as the inner door whipped open and he was looking at the woman he had come to see.

Diane DeBoer, the woman who was his mom's oldest friend and his rescuer from when he had fallen from Old Mrs. Danbrush's tree. She hadn't changed much over the last 13 years. Her hair was just as long and she still wore it in her preferred style of a long thick braid down her back, but it was silver now instead of honey blond.

The waistline was a little thicker and she moved a little slower, but her mere presence still commanded with a matronly air. Blair couldn’t help but smile, happy he was to see that the years had been kind.

“May I help you?” she asked, her eyes staring blindly over his left shoulder. He smiled, his mischievous nature coming out to pay as he answered her.

“Got any cranberry chocolate chip cookies, Ms. Diane?” he asked sweetly. Diane started visibly and her eyes narrowed. Her mouth twisted into a scowl as she barked harshly.

“And if I do, you gonna stay out of Mrs. Danbush’s tree again, boy?”

He tried, honestly he tried not to laugh, but he was certain that a snicker slipped out as her scowled slowly turned into an all out smirk. “I may be small still, but I am a lot older and wiser now, Ma’am.”

The smirk remained for a bit longer before she finally said, “Older perhaps… wiser, well that remains to be seen, Leerling. But you come on in and let me see what I can scrounge up.”

Diane turned and left Blair with the open door while she stepped into the parlor just off the main hall. A young girl sat on the bench in front of an upright piano, her face pinched as she watched him come in. Diane whispered in her ear and the girl’s face smoothed as she nodded once and prepared to leave. Blair turned to leave them some privacy before he girl left through the front door.

His eyes flicked over the pictures on the mantle of the large fireplace, several were of family members and a few of them were students that Diane had taught over the years. His eyes caught on one fresh, freckle-faced, curly haired moppet and he smiled. As he drifted through memories, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift. He couldn’t be sure but, he could swear that someone was watching him.

Turning to look over his shoulder, he caught sight of the biggest cat he had ever laid eyes on. It lounged on the settee that Diane had standing in the alcove of the bay window in the front of the parlor. Eyes of green watched him coolly and he felt as if he were being judged. His face screwed up and he stuck his tongue out at the cat just as Diane breezed by on her way to the kitchen.

“Keep that up, boy, and your face is likely to freeze that way.” She called as she reached the kitchen without a miss-step. Sometimes he forgot that Diane was blind, comfortable as she was in her own home. But when he thought about it, it didn’t really matter where Diane was, she was always one step ahead of the game. Blair spun in place, turning to follow the voice in the kitchen.

"Hey, he started it!" Then after a beat he thought to ask, "And anyway, when did you start keeping a cat around?"

“Since he showed up on my doorstep,” she replied. Blair walked through the open doorway into the kitchen where she was pouring water into a tea kettle to set on the cast iron stove in the corner. He slammed to a halt at the sight of a prim Siamese who sat in the center of the table, his tail wrapped around the vase of flowers behind him. The Siamese stared back at him, blue eyes locked onto blue in some sort of staring contest.

“Poe, get off the table. Blair doesn’t want to share cookies with you.” Diane whirled around to take two cups down from the cupboard and set about getting tea bags from the canister on the counter. The Siamese left the table and settled himself in a nearby chair. The larger cat, a Maine coon if Blair remembered correctly, flopped onto the floor under the chair and both cats turned their intense gazes on to him. Creepy.

But turnabout was fair play in Blair’s book so he stared right back at them. The uncomfortable part about this exchange was the expressions on the cat’s faces reminded him of Nunie and Bagheera, annoying Shmucks. He was just about to break contact with the silly game when he caught the most irritating buzz in the back of his mind. Poe canted his head to the side as if he had just heard something he liked.

Diane placed a cup of tea before Blair, pushed the plate against his arm and scolded the cats. “You two stop that. Just cause he’s ‘gifted’ doesn’t mean he’s ready for your tag teaming his brain.”

Blair gaped at Diane. “How did you know they were doing anything?”

Diane smiled. “They were snickering about it, dear. How long would it take them to creep you right the hell out? Devious little klerebeers. They did it to your mother last time she was here… she didn’t get it though, kept ignoring them. They moped for days afterwards.”

Blair’s expression didn’t change so much as it softened as he gazed back at the two animals. He couldn’t help but note that when he blinked, they blinked in time. He vaguely wondered what it meant to be gifted, but before he could ask, Diane nudged his elbow and pointed at the tea. He took a sip as she stared in the direction of the cats.

“Your mother was quite a force of nature when you were younger, is she still as outspoken as before?”  
Blair shrugged. “I guess so. She hasn’t been around much lately. What do you mean gifted?”

Diane turned her sightless eyes in his direction. She sat that way for a time, not answering, and Blair was getting the feeling he wasn’t going to get an answer from her when she reached out suddenly and grasp his hand in hers. Through their clasped hands, Blair felt warmth flash from one hand to the other, an intense heat that warmed him to his toes. When she released his hand, Diane picked up her cup and sipped from it again.

“In the old days, the town folk would have called you a witch and had you burned at the stake. Before that, your kind and my kind would have been seen as Holy and revered. My sight would have been termed as prophetic.” Diane took a cookie from the plate. Blair nodded in understanding.

“So, what brings you back to my world, child?” asked the old woman conversationally, a twinkle in her blind, aged eyes.

Blair shrugged, knowing instinctively that she would get the gesture regardless of the lack of sight. “I started working on my dissertation.”

Ducking his head, the curtain of his hair covering his embarrassment, Blair still could see Poe as he leapt from the chair back to the table, coming within touching distance and sitting comfortably on his haunches. If Blair didn’t know any better he would have thought… but then the buzzing intensified. Narrowing his gaze, he reached out a hand and scratched under the cat’s chin. Sure enough, the buzzing stopped as the cat’s eyes slipped closed.

During this exchange Diane ate her cookie in silence, sipping her tea and keeping her thoughts silent. When she had finished her cookie, she turned and leaned an elbow on the table and smiled. “Naomi said you may have found a subject… found yourself a Guardian, did you?”

And again that all knowing voice of experience. If Blair didn’t know better he would have thought that Diane was toying with him. But he couldn’t let her go on thinking that Jim was anything but a subject for his dissertation.

“Yeah, I guess… he doesn’t have a companion yet.” Blair took a bite out of his cookie, noticing the Siamese curiously cocking his head to the side. Diane tsk’ed as she sipped her tea.

“So you say…”

Blair chose to ignore that, chewing his cookie thoughtfully before continuing. “I’ve been trying to help him for a few months now. He’s doing all right, I guess. I know he could do better.”

“Well of course he could, dear.” Diane picked up another cookie and nibbled it absently as she muttered. “And when his companion comes to his senses, no pun intended, and actually starts working with the man, imagine the possibilities…”

Blair paused in the process of taking another bite of his cookie. “You know who his companion is? You’ve… you know… *seen* him?”

Diane snorted in a most unlady-like fashion and took another sip of her tea. “Yes indeed. So have you for that matter. You just seem to be blinder than me in actually seeing who it is.”

"Hey, that's... jeez I can't decide on rude, unfair or un-PC." Blair protested. Diane simply smirked at him with undisguised glee.

The older woman snorted. "Fair, shmair - just saying it how I 'see' it. And this is something you know I won't interfere with."

And yes he did know that. Diane considered her ‘sight’ to be a gift of God, and was to be used as advisement only. Blair understood this. Some people had to learn things on their own. He dropped his head to sip his tea and caught eyes with the Siamese. That shiver went up his spine yet again.

“So,” Diane began conversationally, “Have you named them yet?”

Blair’s head jerked up and he narrowed sharp gaze at the older woman. She, of course, remained unfazed. “Named who? And why?”

“You want to talk about rude and unfair…” Diane waved a hand towards the back door where Blair saw Wolf and Panther sitting, lounging against the wall and staring back at him.

“Oh shit…” Blair sighed as he dropped his head on the table. “How long have you two been there?”

There was no reason to hide the two spirit animals. They were a part of his ‘gift’ he was certain, and Diane could obviously ‘see’ things that Blair had only once imagined. That included visions, dreams and mystical totems. Wolf yawned while Panther sniffed in disdain and lay down on the floor across the threshold of the door.

*#And you call yourself a teeeachER…? Must we teach you everything, Human? You do not even listen to your guides, it is wonder they are still with yooooouuuu.#*

Blair blinked, stared at Wolf, then down at Panther, and finally swung around to look at the cats. Poe stared back at him with a defiant air, tail lashing back and forth while whiskers twitched.

“What do you mean listen to my guides? I listen to them all the time. It’s not my fault they aren’t clear.” Great, now he was talking to a house cat. Diane snorted in a most unlady-like manner before draining her tea cup.

“You have a lot to learn about spirit guides, Leerling.” She said as she stood to clean the kitchen. “They speak just fine, you just have to open yourself a bit more.”

Blair was about to fire off a retort when his cell phone rang. “Hello?”

 _*#”Sandburg? Banks, I need you to get to the station. Jim’s having that god awful headache of his again. I think that cold is still affecting him. I need you to get him to go home.”#*_

Blair sighed. “Fine Captain, I’m on my way.” He clicked the phone off and stood reluctantly. Poe watched him expectantly. He rolled his eyes and nodded. “Ok, I get it. I’m going to need to come back aren’t I?”

Diane chuckled as she walked with Blair to the front door. “I think, if you want to understand your ‘gift’ you will have to come back every once in a while so we can talk. If nothing else, you can call me.”

Blair stopped at the door, turned and hugged his old friend. “I’ll do that, definitely. In the mean time, I have to find this companion for Jim, before it’s too late and I get him killed.”

Diane said nothing as she hugged Blair before opening the door. “Just so long as you really try to get in touch with your gift in the mean time. And give names to those poor beasties. You can’t go around calling them Wolf and Panther all the time, you know.”

Blair chuckled before walking out the door. She had a point, of course. Calling them such generic names was bound to annoy his guides eventually. He stopped for a moment and glanced back inside the house. “Nunie, Bagheera, let’s go. Jim’s waiting on us.”

Diane smiled as the shadowy forms of the wolf and the panther left the house and headed for his car. Blair shrugged. “I’ll explain later.” He said as he headed after them.

He was soon on his way back to Cascade, steering the Corvair down the lone road. Something in him felt lighter and he knew he was finally on the right path to understanding his Shamanic abilities. Nunie the wolf and Bagheera the panther rode with him with happy expressions on their faces. Most definitely on the right track.

o-O-o

  
Blair glanced up at the sound of the wolf’s yip, the signal that Jim was on his way up in the elevator. It had become a new thing now with both animals to split up between himself and Jim, keeping an eye on both partners and warning Blair of trouble when needed. On the Nightmare train ride, it had been the panther who encouraged Blair not to give up, knowing that Jim had not only survived being thrown out a window from a moving train, but that he was still on the train and working towards busting the bad guys.

“Thanks Nunie, I’m almost finished here,” muttered Blair as he scanned what he had written in his journal so far. _*So far, since having Jim run through a full physical, we have had to readjust the results to a number of my original tests. The distance on hearing is much greater than I had earlier surmised, as evidenced by the trouble we had with Jim’s sleeping habits. Ear Wax… I gotta remember to have his ears checked at least once a year during his physical. And since Jim couldn’t control his hearing until all the solution had dried in his ear canal, we got to work with White Noise generators. Now Jim has greater range , AND he can filter out white noise. One never knows what one would need to be better than. Surveillance will be much more interesting.*_

Placing his bookmark between the pages, Blair left the journal under his mattress and turned out the light. By the time he had reached the kitchen and stirred the pot of stew he had simmering on the stove, he heard the jingle of keys. He smiled as his friend walked through the door, stopped for a moment and sniffed with an appreciative air.

“Smells good, Chief.” Jim smiled as he hung up his coat. Blair smiled with him and pointed towards the bathroom.

“You got time for a shower man. Release the tension.” It wasn’t exactly an order, but Jim was agreeable so there was no need to explain. Blair chuckled over the fact that Jim didn’t take any clothing in with him. It was something they had discussed once upon a time. Jim was not homophobic, he was actually bisexual and he was not modest. Time with the Rangers and Covert Ops had disabused him of such notions. It was meant as a warning, one never knew when Jim was going to come out of the bathroom clad only in a token bath sheet.

Such as now. When Blair next noticed his friend it was to watch the broad back and shoulders, still glistening with water droplets, float past with the man on his way to his bedroom. Blair cleared his throat. “Erm… Jim? How’s your sense of touch?”

The big man slowed down and glanced over his shoulder, his muscled bunching as he flexed. He looked as if he was about to blow Blair off, but something in his face must have showed his concern, because the Sentinel turned back and walked over, gently laying a hand on the table to steady himself. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before answering, “I think I shoved it off. I’ve been having some trouble…”

Blair turned off the stew and wiped his hands on the towel over his shoulder before setting it on the counter. Stepping over to Jim, he took the extra towel out of the man’s hand and moved around to the back side to wipe away the droplets. “You left your back wet, and it wasn’t making you itch like it normally does. Figured you couldn’t feel anything. Sit down for a second, I want to talk.”

Jim nodded and took a seat at the table. Blair took a seat next to him, facing the man and laying a hand on his shoulder. “Okay, now let’s see if we can do some guided visualizations. Ready? Let’s start with your breathing.”

Jim sighed once before starting up his controlled breathing, taking a breath in through the nose, holding for two seconds and then slowly pushing the breath out through the mouth until he was as empty as he could get. Blair breathed with him and counted it off in his head. After about five minutes of this, he laid his other hand on Jim’s nearest knee, completing the circuit between them.

“Let your mind fall blank, think of nothing but a blank slate. We begin at the beginning… Imagine a sound board, starting out with five knobs. Each knob is marked with a sense… Hearing, touch, taste, smell, sight… close your eyes and imagine the board, Jim…” With each breath Blair added a new command. When he felt sure that Jim was imagining what he wanted, he added a new marking. “Now mark around the knob and number the marks one being lowest and nine being highest. When you have that, let your senses go and tell me on that scale where they are.”

“Sight is five… hearing is the same… smell is at four… taste is two and touch…” Jim trailed off. Blair waited patiently until Jim answered him. “Touch is not on the scale… like it’s turned off.”

“So find the power button for that sense and turn it back on, man.” Blair chided good naturedly. Jim ducked his head with his eyes still closed, pink spreading across his cheeks.

“Yeah, sorry Chief… hang on.” Silence. Then Jim sucked in a deep breath and groaned. “Ok, that’s not good… the needle is buried in the red.”

Blair nodded and began to breathe again, controlled and timed. In moments Jim was breathing in tandem with him and Blair felt he could continue his instruction. “Right, so touch is way off scale, and you over compensated. Take it down notch by notch until the scale is more manageable… take it to a three.”

Jim nodded, but from his grimace Blair knew that it was worse than an out of control sense. Gently extracting himself from his Sentinel, he ran for the bathroom, plucking the jar of tiger balm from the shelf in the medicine cabinet and returning to Jim’s side in record time. “Jim, remember the biofeedback lessons I gave you last week. Now I want you to slowly take yourself apart, piece by piece, and see if you can isolate the pain.”

It was another five or six minutes before Jim grunted once and reached for his right hip. Blair reached out, stilling the hand and kneeling next to the chair, untucking and shifting the towel around Jim’s waist to reveal a slight discoloration that, even now was beginning to grow and darken. “Bruised your hip somewhere,” murmured the shaman. The Sentinel merely grunted agreement. With a tiny dab of the balm in the palm of his hand, Blair began to work heat into Jim’s hip, massaging the tension and relieving the pain a bit more. Once that was done, Jim pulled the towel back to cover the bruise while Blair went to wash his hands.

“Jim, go back to your breathing, I want you to add another knob.” Blair stirred the stew once while he waited for Jim to get to the image point again. Jim’s upraised eyebrow was his signal and he came to sit in the chair next to him, reestablishing his link with his hands. “This knob is labeled pain, same hash marks as before, same numbering. When you have it marked and labeled, set the dial to two.”

It was a bit longer to get Jim to this point, but as Blair watched the tension lines in the Sentinel’s face eventually smoothed out and his breathing became much less laborious. A quick squeeze to Blair’s hand as it rested on Jim’s knee told him that Jim was in place as instructed. “Good, man you are doing marvelous. Now, I want you to imagine taking the section where the pain is, and tying it solely to that knob. Once you have it, you can relax all your dials and start working on bringing them to a number that marks as normal.”

Blair left his friend to deal with that last instruction as he dished up their dinner. It was another three minutes before Jim moved, trotting up the stairs to his bedroom and pulling on a pair of well warm sweat pants, along with a comfortable t-shirt. By the time Blair served dinner, Jim was there to eat it, looking remarkably better. Eating their dinner in comfortable companionship, Jim initiated conversation hesitantly. “That’s what you were doing after that incident on the train, when you nearly dislocated your shoulder trying to get your bag.”

“Yeah. It’s all about being aware of your body and it’s signals. That’s why all the tests to your senses to gauge the level and range against normal humans. If you know what you are capable of, it’s easier to make your senses do what you want them to, rather than letting them control you.” Blair took a bite of his stew, ignoring the thoughtful look on Jim’s face. Let Jim come to his conclusions in his own time and he usually understood faster.

“So the dials thing?” asked the Sentinel before he shoved another spoonful of stew in his mouth. Blair swallowed his own mouthful and began to explain.

“An idea I had about the Companions for the Sentinels, they would need some early warning signal that the Sentinel was having trouble detecting normal.” He came to a halt when Jim’s head snapped up suddenly.

“Incacha… he used to have me imagine the flames of a fire. But he didn’t separate the senses.” Jim blinked when he realized what he had said. Blair blinked as well, spoon halfway to his mouth. His eyes widened as he set his spoon down.

“Jim? Do you remember something?” he asked. Jim shook his head and frowned.

“Just a name and a vague recollection of the jungle…” Blair nodded as Jim resumed eating his food.

“Yeah, okay I get that. Remember I thought this was all connected to your time in Peru?” Blair paused as Jim nodded. “Well, this guy Incacha could have been your companion in the jungle. Maybe your abilities came up sooner rather than later. They’ve just been lying dormant all this time.”

“You thought that isolation might have been the trigger this time,” reminded Jim as he broke a piece of bread in half. “You think Peru was the same? I was alone for a while before the Chopec found me.”

“Sounds plausible to me, Jim,” agreed Blair as he finished his food. Jim took his bowl and went to clean the kitchen while Blair finished his thoughts. “So, I figured that not only can we control how your senses behaved, we could also control them in your work. Imagine being able to find a bleach blonde hair that the forensic guys miss, simply by smelling the chemical, localizing the smell in the room, and zooming in on it with your sight?”

“Sweeping over a crime scene would take on a whole other dimension,” mused Jim as he put away the left over stew. “And it would help me dig up suspects that much faster. Then I could just have my ‘hunches’ confirmed and catch my bad guys quicker. I see what you mean by human crime lab, Chief.”

Blair grinned and said teasingly, "It's good to know you are finally catching on to my brilliance Ellison, took you long enough. Sheesh."

He barely avoided the head swipe that he knew was coming and Jim’s light-hearted chuckle told him that his friend was feeling better. This companion thing was not so hard when you have the trust of your Sentinel.

o-O-o

The next morning found Jim at the kitchen island with a blindfold wrapped around his eyes and his hands firmly placed on the island to stabilize himself. Blair babbled on about taste tests and adjusting his notes while, from the corner, Nunie and Bagheera looked on with half lidded eyes. This was going to be a fun day. It was already starting off wrong when Blair got the call on his cell phone. Nunie growled distinctly as Blair picked it up.

“Hang on Jim, do not… do NOT, move anything until I get back.” Jim nodded as Blair turned his back to take the call. After a couple of “Yeah”, “Uh huh…” and “Well, I’m not sure…” answers from Blair’s side, he finally sighed and hung up the phone. “Great, just great.”

Jim tilted his head to the side. “Problem, Chief?”

Blair glanced back at Jim and sighed. “Nothing I can’t handle. Let’s get this done so you can get back to work.” He led Jim through the test, having him sip from each of the three cups and identifying the small amount of unusual substance in each, then whipped off the blindfold and emptying the cups. He also reached over and picked up the cup of spoiled milk he had poured that morning, dumping it and carrying on with the business of getting ready to leave for the day.

During all this, Jim finished his own preparations for heading out, but stopped before actually leaving. “So who was on the phone?”

Blair picked up his phone and checked the charge on it before slipping it into the pocket of his jacket… Jim’s jacket… gods, he needed a new jacket, it seemed. “That was just my department chair on the phone.”

Jim picked up his and Blair’s keys and handed Blair his set. “Sounded like something was going wrong today.”

Blair sighed. “They need a sub for today's lecture.” He picked up his pack and headed out the door in front of Jim. “Are you busy this afternoon?”

“Need someone to talk about police procedure or something?” Jim joked as they walked down the stairs to the lobby.

“Need someone to talk about getting caught up in field work versus actually spending time with the indigenous peoples.” Blair answered. “I was thinking about your time with the Chopec. You spent 18 months there, you have some insight into what it takes to gain their trust and get comfortable there with the Indians.”

Jim said nothing for a time, finally answering as he and Blair reached their cars. “Yeah, let me call on a couple witnesses and let Simon know I’m going to be busy for a few hours. When do you need me?”

Blair smiled and they set a time. As they split up for their respective jobs, Blair failed to notice Bagheera as he jumped into Jim’s Ford while Nunie stayed in the Corvair with Blair.

o-O-o

Jim and Bagheera left the truck parked in the lot as they strolled up to Hargrove Hall. Off to the left, the cat caught sight of a bicycle messenger headed across the quad for the science labs. He growled softly. That would be trouble coming. The cat watched his human as he continued talking to Simon on the phone.

“Yes, sir, I'm well aware of that. I'll get on that as soon as I'm done here.” He paused as Simon asked something across the line. “Well, Sandburg's asked me to help out for a project at the University.” Another pause and Bagheera could see they were almost to the door of the building. His human was about to miss a big clue. “Yes, sir. Okay. Thanks, Simon. Talk to you in a bit.”

Jim hung up the phone and reached for the door. Bagheera put his entire being into one loud roar. The human stumbled a bit and came to a complete halt, one hand on the door handle, the other still holding the phone. He glanced around, overlooking the cat and gazing at the bushes against the building. Bagheera sat on his hunches and waited. He knew what would be heard if the human would simply stop and listen.

“What the hell…?” muttered Jim as he turned away from the door and began to make his way around the side of the building. Stopping every so often, he cast out his senses and came up with the feeling of missing something. As he ventured closer to the windows that would have filtered light into the lecture hall, he felt a popping in his ears. He stopped dead in his tracks. Bagheera walked around him and stood under the windows. He snarled to get the human’s attention.

Jim looked around, and then looked up. Whatever he saw there he was quickly moving back around to the doors of the hall, his phone out of his pocket and dialing automatically. Bagheera ran with him, slipping in through the door and racing to the lecture hall. Jim wasted no time on knocking, he simply opened the door just as Blair was speaking.

o-O-o

“Regardless of how much field work you do, very few of us have the opportunity to actually visit the objects of our research, let alone live among the indigenous people for any length of time.” Blair glanced over as he noticed Jim and made as if to wave him over. But Jim’s look of concern must have translated well because the young man was off the stage in only a few steps and had reached Jim’s side instantly. “What’s going on man?”

“How fast can you get these kids out of here, Chief?” asked Jim as he listened on his phone. Blair didn’t ask questions. He turned and whirled his finger round once.

“Right, grab your stuff; we have an emergency, get out to the parking lot on the B side of the quad. This is not a drill!” Blair held the doors open as the young people began to file out quickly, heading straight for the southern exit, away from the lecture hall. Jim turned away as he spoke urgently into the phone.

“Yeah Joel, I’m pretty sure it’s mostly harmless. It’s pretty high up in the window.” Blair glanced up at Jim’s words, scanned the windows and found he odd contraption that had captures Jim’s attention. He looked around and snagged the nearest guard.

“Get a security lock down on this place. There’s a terrorist threat to the school,” he ordered. The guard nodded once and shuffled off to set a lock down in motion. No one could get in or out of the high security buildings without authorization. Blair left things up to the guard as he turned back to Jim, who was just hanging up his phone.

“Joel’s bringing in a team,” said the Sentinel to his companion.

“Good… that’s good Jim.” Blair laid a hand on Jim’s arm, holding it carefully as he glanced around the halls, “What tipped you off?”

Jim scrunched up his face in thought. “The noise.”

Blair canted his head and gave Jim a puzzled look so the big man explained, “No birds, just a dull buzzing.”

“White noise generator!” Blair burst out, fairly bouncing with glee. “Why would a terrorist feel the need to disguise a bomb’s noise when it’s that high up?”

Jim would have speculated but Blair was already moving for the nearest exit. He stood in the open area and scanned the buildings surrounding them. Nunie growled off to his left and he snapped his gaze onto the Science labs in that direction. “It’s a ruse, man. Misdirection and illusion. How does a magician get away with his tricks?”

“He gets your attention focused on the other hand,” replied Jim as he dropped a hand on Blair’s shoulder. Blair could imagine the man using his sense of hearing to investigate the buildings for anything out of the ordinary. Just as the grad student was about to gain his attention, Jim took off at a dead run, aiming directly for the Medical Research Labs.

Bagheera raced ahead and Nunie kept pace with the Shaman as he rushed to stay with Jim and nearly stumbled over the prone body of the guard assigned to the building. Jim swept past, calling to Blair as he did, “Heart’s still beating, Chief. Come on, I hear someone else inside and she doesn’t sound happy.”

Blair grabbed his cell phone and dialed for backup as he stepped around the guard and followed Jim into one of the labs. Checking the door, he noted the warnings and hurried to catch up without touching anything. Jim stood before a large wall sized vault which was shut, but from the other side came the unmistakable sound of a woman yelling.

 _*”Help, is there anyone out there?”*_ came the muffled voice. Jim held a hand against the metal door to better feel the vibrations coming from within as he called back to the woman.

“This is Detective James Ellison, Cascade PD. How does this lock work?” Blair strained to hear the woman on the other side, his hand on Jim’s shoulder as the big man laid his ear against the door.

 _*”It needs a member of Campus Security to use the emergency code on the keypad right next to you.”*_ came the shaky reply. Blair moved away to call for security and was told that the Security Chief was on her way, to sit tight. He nodded to Jim who relayed this information to the woman.

“Just stay calm and relax.” Jim leaned back and glanced over to Blair. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to look around the lab. The wall vault was most definitely a refrigerator and from the notes on the counter Blair could tell that this was a biohazard testing facility. Whoever set up the diversion had been aiming to steal something out of this lab. From Jim’s attention to the room, Blair could only believe that the rest of the building was empty.

“Jim, whatever is in that vault, it must have been what our guy was after. A virus or biohazard or something.” Blair turned as Suzanne Tomaki came into the room. She smiled at Blair before turning to Jim.

“So, Jim, what have we got?” she asked. Blair raised a brow in their direction. Jim shrugged before filling the Asian Security Chief on the particulars. She nodded, stepped up and punched in a code on the number pad. The locks clicked and the door swung open to reveal a short blonde female in a white lab coat. “Dr. Price, you were very lucky.”

The doctor nodded as she stepped out of the refrigerator. “I know. Thank you Detective, if not for you, I don’t know when anyone would have found me.”

Jim smiled and nodded, But Blair only wanted to know how the woman got into the vault in the first place. He asked this very question and noticed the pretty blonde blush scarlet.

“I was checking the inventory when the security lockdown caught me by surprise and the vault automatically shut on me.” She said as she sat on a nearby stool.

“What, in your inventory, would anyone be interested in enough to set off a diversion in the lecture halls, and to knock out a security guard?” asked Jim. “Anything worth stealing?”

Dr. Price sighed as she pulled a clipboard off the counter beside her and handed to Jim her inventory list. “A canister of the Ebola virus was transported by ship from the Sudan. I came in this morning from our lab to take it back to Atlanta.”

Blair whistled low through his teeth, “Oh, man. The Ebola virus is bad news. It's like the black plague on steroids.”

Dr. Price nodded, “Exactly. And if had been released into the air, we would have been looking at a death toll in the thousands.”

Jim nodded once before handing the clipboard back to the Doctor. “In that case, I would suggest you have an escort with you when you take this back. I’ll call my Captain and have him loan you some protection until you have proper security.”

Dr. Price thanked him before locking the vault tightly and calling her lab in Atlanta. Jim ushered Blair out of the lab and towards the truck in the parking lot. They would have to report to Simon about all of this.

Neither of them noticed the sedan parked across the street, the lone driver watching the two of them with great interested as they climbed in the truck and drove away.

o-O-o

Their meeting with Simon yielded very little in the way of answers. Joel and Carolyn’s investigation of the device from the window gave them precious little more. The mini transmitter trigger was higher tech than anything they had ever seen before. The tear gas canister attached was fairly run of the mill and would have been enough to cause widespread panic but no real damage or harm to anyone. But that whoever had set-up and placed the devices had felt the need to add a white noise generator to each device in order to mask the tiny amount of sound each would make - it was just odd.

Of course neither the bomb squad captain, nor the forensic specialist could fathom why the bomber had put so much effort into disguising the device from prying eyes. Blair had a suspicion, naturally, but he couldn’t very well voice his thoughts to those assembled, now could he? Jim’s barely perceptible nudge to his arm told Blair that his partner was thinking the same thing he was. The would be thief had to be up to something else.

Jim was looking over the trigger when he snapped his fingers suddenly. “This reminds me of my time in the military. I was a liaison to the C.I.A. counterinsurgency unit. This is definitely some of their stuff. Whoever our thief is, he has, or had connections.”

Simon snarled as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “All right, Jim I want you and Sandburg to head home, get some rest and come into this tomorrow with fresh eyes.”

Jim nodded and soon he and Blair were out the door and headed home. When they arrived in their parking spot, Blair growled softly. “My car…”

“Is at the university,” finished Jim. He reached over and squeezed Blair’s arm. “Don’t worry, Chief, we’ll swing by and pick it up tomorrow.”

Blair nodded and sighed as he climbed out of the truck and walked with Jim back to the loft. As they climbed the stairs, Blair asked Jim about his perceptions where the smoke bomb was involved. “I mean, you saw it out of nowhere, Man. I can’t imagine what you were thinking.”

Jim paused on the second floor landing, wrapped an arm around Blair’s shoulder and ushered him up ahead of him a moment. “Well here’s the weird thing Chief. I was walking along, almost in the building when I could have sworn…”

“Sworn what, Jim?” asked Blair as he turned back to the man. But Jim’s face was unfocused and he appeared to be zoned on something. Blair reached out a hand to gently caress Jim’s cheek. “Jim, come back to me.”

The Sentinel’s eyes remained unfocused a moment longer, then one hand came up to cover Blair’s and the eyes refocused on his own. Blair sighed quietly as Jim came back, only to stiffen again as the cop whispered to him, “There’s someone in the loft.”

Blair wanted to ask how Jim knew this, but he was gently placed behind the cop as Jim went to open the door with his gun in hand. He gently opened the door and stepped in cautiously, then froze as a gun was placed against his right temple. Blair made as if to run when he heard a voice call out.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Mr. Sandburg. Unless you really think that Detective Ellison is Superman, in which case a bullet should bounce right off him.” The voice held such an air of scorn and disdain that Blair had no doubt the man attached to the hand with the gun would pull that trigger, kill Jim and the come after him without a moment’s hesitation.

“Right, not going anywhere. Go ahead Jim, I’m right behind you.” He was pretty sure that’s NOT what Jim wanted, but not everything worked out right away. Jim said nothing, but stepped in as ordered and placed himself between the gun and Blair. The Shaman didn’t argue, keeping himself out of the line of sight, but looking over his partner’s shoulder to see their enemy.

The dark haired man smiled as he ushered the two of them into the loft and over towards the sofas. “Well, I must say you exceeded my expectations, Detective. I was sure that the white noise generator would cause you some trouble this afternoon.”

Jim shrugged and Blair kept his mouth shut as the mystery man waved a hand in the direction of Jim’s weapon. “Hand it over, Ellison.”

The cop did as he was told, shifting to keep Blair behind him. “So, who the hell are you anyway?”

The man chuckled quietly. “Lee Brackett. As I said, I am suitably impressed by your abilities. I’m sure you are exactly what I am looking for.”

Jim effected a bored expression and Blair could tell it irritated Brackett. He hid his own smile as the man snarled. “Don’t you want to know why I attempted to steal the virus from the lab?”

“Why should I? You didn’t manage to take it, even with the white noise generator.” Jim sneered as he waved a hand behind him towards the lamp that sat on the low table by the sofa. Blair noticed the gesture for what it was. He leaned around Jim to ask his own question.

“Yeah, what was that all about, anyway?” he asked as he wrapped his toe around the power cord.

Brackett chuckled, “I admire your insatiable curiosity. Without that, who knows? Maybe you wouldn't have uncovered Ellison's sentinel abilities. I know about your special talents.”

Blair gazed back with a blank expression on his face. Jim canted his head to the side, wearing an equally blank expression. “Excuse me, what?”

Brackett glared. “You know what I am talking about. Think about it a moment.”

Jim shifted over to the other foot, his hands on his hips. “That white-noise generator was pure C.I.A.”

“C.I.A.? But why steal the virus?” asked Blair again. Brackett snorted.

“It was a bargaining chip, Mr. Sandburg. I want Mr. Ellison to help me commit a crime. They'll be talking about it for years.”

“Yeah, only you didn’t manage to get your bargaining chip. So I guess that means you need to fall back on another plan,” smirked Blair. “Therefore this little gloat session is useless. Why are you really here?”

“I was C.I.A. duty officer five years ago in Peru. I debriefed the Special Forces officer who pulled the Detective here from the jungle.” Bracket blathered on. Blair rolled his eyes.

“So what? You think Jim’s covert ops training can help you with this, whatever you are on about?” Blair grumbled, keeping his expression in check. This asshole was not going to walk out of here with thoughts of Jim being anything than what he really was. A damn good cop with detective’s instincts to envy, and nothing else.

But Brackett didn’t seem to be biting that theory. “The officer’s report on Ellison's hallucinatory behavior in the rain forest was fascinating. I filed away the information for future reference and kept an eye on his career here in Cascade -- yours too. I read an early undergraduate piece you wrote on primitive sentinels.”

Blair shrugged as Brackett went on, “The description fit Ellison to a "T". I'm glad you two hooked up.”

Jim shifted restlessly, “Get to the point, Brackett.”

The rogue smiled, “Well, the point is you two are going to help me steal something.”

“Wait a minute, both of us? “ interrupted Blair, his eyes narrowed.

“Well, you're his guide, so to speak, so I'll need you too.” Brackett explained. Blair rolled his eyes as Jim chuckled.

“But you’ve lost your bargaining chip. No virus, no blackmail.” Blair edged a bit further behind Jim, using the Sentinel as a shield while preparing to shift his foot and tumble the lamp. Jim held his ground, his focus on Brackett. The terrorist continued to babble.

“Something you will learn, I always have a backup plan. Surrounding the city, there are several bombs set to go off at a certain time if I don’t turn them off before then. Only I have the code. “

Jim took a step to the left, Blair ripped the lamp down plunging the room into darkness and Brackett cursed. Blair backed himself against the wall, knowing that he was useless in the darkness. Edging along the wall, he found one of the light switches and listened to the struggling of the two other men. At one point, Blair heard someone yell, “Catch!”

Pounding feet out the front door told Blair that Brackett was gone and he cautiously flipped on the lights. Jim held a backpack, which he unzipped to find a bomb ticking away. He immediately turned it around and pulled one of the wires, disarming it instantly. He tossed the pack on the table and raced out of the loft.

Blair went to investigate the bomb, noted that the LED on the display showed ten seconds, and sighed with relief. He then went and phoned for Joel and the others to come for the bomb, and new statements. They now knew who was after the virus, and his intentions for Jim… and himself. He sighed as he sat heavily on the couch. Life was definitely getting frustrating.

o-O-o

It was while waiting for Joel to take the bomb that Blair suddenly had an idea on who he could get information from. So while Jim was writing up his statement and making some calls in to his contacts in and around D.C., Blair went to check on his friend, Jack Kelso.

Jack had once been in ‘The Game’ like Brackett, but after a mission gone bad, Jack was let go. He took his knowledge and shared it with the world. Not everyone was happy with the enlightenment. Now he was a teacher in Foreign Affairs at the University. And he was only too happy to help Blair with his little Rouge problem.

So when Blair arrived with a big black book of names, dates and inside information on several rouge and double agents working in and around the United States. He also brought Jack along with him, to make him feel better about exposing himself and his information to the local law. Jim was impressed, after he made a slight fool of himself about reading Jack’s book. Blair bit his tongue, it wouldn’t do to upset and embarrass the big guy. It was his night to cook, after all.

After some more discussion, Jim reported his new leads to Simon, who showed Jim the report from Joel on the bomb he had disarmed. It had the same characteristics of the previous device and only served to confirm Jim’s earlier suspicions. Of course, Blair wasn’t impressed. He left the station early to pick up some items from the store, meeting Jim later on at home.

The big guy was reading the book Jack left with them, while stirring a pan of pasta primavera, a dish he knew Blair raved over. Blair grinned as he locked the loft and took off his jacket. “Smells good, man. You learn anything new yet about this Brackett guy?”

“I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels until Brackett tells us what he wants.” Jim sighed as he turned another page. He turned the flame down, glanced at Blair, and went upstairs for a moment, returning with a large flannel shirt that he slipped on to Blair. The grad student smirked as he read the book upside down.

“Well, he could have left something here that we missed. Maybe we just need to see where he’s been to get an idea of where he’s going.” Blair muttered as Jim stirred the pasta again.

“The Lab guys—“

“The Lab techs can only find so much with their normal senses, Jim!” snarled Blair as he grabbed the book and slammed it shut. He reached over and placed a lid on the pan, his eyes locked on Jim’s. “You have an advantage, remember? Use your nose, sniff around… spread yourself out a bit and see what YOUR senses tell you.”

Jim ducked his head in chagrin. “Forgot…”

Blair shook his head. “Silly Sentinel. Trust yourself, man. And if you can’t trust that… trust me?”

Jim’s head snapped up as he focused on Blair. “Of course I trust you.”

Blair snorted, “Yeah ok. So, use those senses of yours.”

Jim nodded and carefully scanned the room, stopping at a spot on the floor where Brackett had stood. He knelt down to look carefully in the crack of the floor. “Hand me your Swiss Army knife, Chief.”

Blair handed it over and Jim prized out a splinter of wood that he looked at carefully. “Kelso's dossier on Brackett said he had a real jones for South American food, right?”

Blair nodded, “Right, right. That stuff always gives me indigestion.”

Jim smiled as he held up the tweezers with the sliver of wood, obviously a toothpick. “He must have tracked this in on his shoes. It's chile pepper.”

Blair held his tongue as Jim sniffed it and then tasted the wood. “There's something metallic in the mud. It's not much, but it could tell us where he's been.”

Blair held out an evidence bag for Jim to drop the toothpick into. “You are a braver soul than I am, Jim.”

The Sentinel smirked just as the phone rang. It was from Simon, something about a gas attack at the music center downtown. Jim gave the evidence over to Blair with instructions to give the sample to Carolyn and to get back home immediately. For some reason, Blair felt deep concern over Jim going off alone. He felt even more concern forgoing off on his own to the station, but he couldn’t say why.

o-O-o

Carolyn was all smiles when Blair strolled into the lab with the evidence bag. “Look what we found at the loft!”

Carolyn looked at the toothpick dubiously. “Hmm, how did we miss that?”

“No telling,” replied Blair as he handed it over, “But Jim’s so meticulous, I know it wasn’t there before that Brackett guy came to visit.”

Carolyn smiled, “I remember, he was forever cleaning up after me. Drove me nuts. You would think that someone like me, who was forever analyzing the evidence left by other people, would want her home so clean you could eat off the floors. But I felt it was a personal affront to my house cleaning skills.”

Blair hitched his hip on the counter next to him. Samantha walked by and smiled at him, he smiled back before turning his attention back to Carolyn, who was watching the interaction with interest. She grinned as she leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I think she likes you, but I’d watch out if I were you.”

Blair glanced at Samantha, then turned back to Carolyn, “She’s very nice.”

“Nice, and snarky. The last boyfriend she had was a guy in Vice. He mentioned she had a problem with guys who couldn’t handle commitment.” Carolyn began working on the toothpick, keeping her back to the lab tech as she chatted with Blair. “Personally I see her as shrewish, but then I was no better when I was married to Jim. Constantly raising the bar and expecting him to jump it to gain my respect.”

Blair turned as well and settled more firmly on the counter. “But not now? You act differently towards him now, how come?”

Carolyn smiled faintly, she was always doing that around him. Blair rather liked it. “Over a year of counseling to figure out that half our problems were mine to deal with. So I have been dealing with them.”

Blair nodded. “And what happens when you have them dealt with?”

Carolyn canted her head to the side. “Why? Are you afraid that I’ll steal him back from you?”

Blair bit back a laugh. “You think Jim and I are…? No, Carolyn. We are strictly working partners. Roommates, buddies, pals. Nothing else happening between us, I promise.”

Carolyn turned away a moment to reach for a bottle of solution. When she turned back she sighed, “Oh well… too bad.”

Blair frowned as he hopped off the counter and walked around to the other side of her, heading towards the door. “Okay, well I better get back. Jim had to run out and I think it had to do with Brackett. I’m heading home to finish reheating dinner. Call Jim when you get anything back from that.”

Carolyn nodded and smiled when he brushed soft lips against her cheek before leaving the lab.

o-O-o

After calling Jack from Jim’s desk to update the man on the status of the case, Blair headed down to the garage to get his car and go home. He had just left the elevator when he heard Nunie growl. Glancing around, he searched for the source of the sound.

“Nunie?” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”

He had no time to get answers when he felt an arm wrap around him from behind, and a sharp pain in his shoulder. Damn, the CIA approved version of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch. He had just enough time to think that the move was something he could have guessed Brackett would be proficient with before the blackness fell and he knew no more.

o-O-o

When next he woke, Blair found himself on a dust covered floor, his hands and feet tied and a gag wrapped around his head. Just how he liked to wake up after being knocked out. At least his kidnapping was going according to normal procedure.

Now, next on his list would be to find out who kidnapped him, listen while the blow-hard blurts out his plans and secrets, then wait around until Jim showed up to stop the bad guy. Piece of cake, right? Nunie sniffed from the corner and Blair raised his eyes to glare at him. Ok, so the Wolf was with him, where was the cat?

o-O-o

Bagheera sat on the top of the truck watching his human talk to other humans about the bodies of the victims inside the building. Wonderful, it seems that the bad human, Brackett, set up his gas attack after all. But the question remained, if he wasn’t here to gloat to Jim, where was he?

There was a shrill ring from his human’s pocket which caused him to pause and remove the phone he always carried. He answered it tersely. “Ellison.”

The feline could not hear the person on the other end of the line, but his human appeared to be interested in what was being discussed. “Ok, so what about the metallic taste?”

There was more spoken from the other end and the human named Jim ducked his head, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “Yeah, well I was just testing a theory.” More conversation from the person on the other end. “So, start checking out local South American restaurants that are near areas of highly concentrated iron oxides. And tell Sandburg to stay there until I… what do you mean he’s not there?”

Jim listened a moment and then nodded his head knowingly. “Yeah I remember, thanks Caro.”

He pressed a button on the phone, presumably to shut it off, and then began punching in more buttons. Bagheera’s skin began to crawl as he climbed to his feet. Something was wrong. He turned and watched Jim place a call, and then shut the phone off yet again. He dialed a number and waited patiently until it was answered. “Simon, it’s me. Have you seen Sandburg?”

Obviously the answer was in the negative if the scowl on Jim’s face was any indication. “He was supposed to drop some evidence off with Carolyn an then head home. He told Caro he was headed that way almost half n hour ago.”

More words from Simon and Jim’s face became even tighter. “No, Simon. I know I can trust him, if he says he’s going to be at a certain place, he is. Look, Brackett said something about knowing I was a Sentinel; he said that he wanted both Blair and me to help him with this theft… He thinks Blair is some sort of ‘Guide’ for me.”

Simon must have said something to Jim’s liking as the human quickly made his way to his truck, preparing to climb in. Bagheera slipped into the back seat to enjoy the ride as Jim finished his call and snapped the phone shut. Yes, something had indeed happened to the Shaman this time. And it was now up to the Sentinel to rescue his companion.

o-O-o

Blair flinched when his eyes opened again and he caught a glimpse of black boots right near his nose. Rolling partway onto his back, he looked up to find himself at the feet of Lee Brackett. Perfect. This, then would be Plan B.

A half distinct whine from the shadows told Blair that Nunie was still there with him, but there was no sign of Bagheera anywhere. This meant that the cat would most likely be with Jim. That was small comfort when he was trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

Brackett squatted down close by, a cell phone in hand, and dialed a number that Blair recognized as Jim’s. After a few moments it was answered, Blair could imagine the terse answer of ‘Ellison’ from the other end of the line. Brackett smiled. “Mr. Ellison, so glad you have your cell phone with you. By now you are aware that your… friend… is not where you left him last.”

Blair rolled his eyes at the obvious melodramatic attitude of his capture. Yeah, it was gonna be one of those days. Jim must have growled out a threat of life and limb if anything was done to his little buddy, blah blah blah, because Brackett chuckled in response. “Yes, well, I’m sure Mr. Sandburg will feel ever so much better knowing that you are willing to do anything I tell you in an attempt to keep him from harm.”

Yeah, most likely Jim was swearing to exact retribution on Brackett if he so much as harms one hair… Brackett snarled into the phone, “Just be at the La Cueva in an hour. No one else, just you.”

When he hung up, Blair could hear Jim still snarling in the phone. Well, Jim actually cared about him. That felt kind of… nice. Not that it wasn’t how he would feel towards anyone that had been kidnapped to hold against him.

In the mean time, it appeared that Blair was stuck waiting for n hour before his partner would show up. Well, that took care of that question. As to what Bracket had in mind for him next, it soon came apparent s his feet were cut apart and he as hefted to his feet. Brackett steered him up the stairs out of the basement he had been dumped in, and out to his sedan.

They drove around for a bit until they pulled up behind a restaurant. Obviously the infamous La Cueva that Jim had been ordered to visit in an hour. It simply translated to ‘The Cave’, and didn’t that seem fitting for a snake like Brackett?

Brackett pushed him through the backdoor of the hole-in-the-wall eatery and shoved him into a nearby chair. Pulling the gag from his mouth, he was offered a sip of water, which he took begrudgingly. “Hungry?”

Blair shook his head. Like he needed the indigestion? Brackett shrugged his shoulders and after offering him one more sip of water held up something that made Blair's blood run cold. It looked a bit like a dog collar, well the leather strap part with the corresponding buckle part did, the flat bit in the center with a flat protrusion sticking from it not so much.

"Open up, little guide, this little trinket will make sure that you aren't able to pass on any hints to your partner, intelligibly anyway. That wouldn't be very good for me at all now would it?"

Blair clamped his mouth shut and tightened his lips into an impenetrable barrier. There was no way he was going to willingly allow anyone to gag him, but that didn't seem to faze Brackett at all. He seemed to know just how to accomplish his goal. The ex-spy pinched Blair's nose and twisted savagely. When Blair's mouth opened involuntarily at both the denial of air and the pain, Brackett deftly slipped the device into place and buckled it tight. Blair robbed of his main means of fighting back glared at the older man narrowly.

Brackett didn't care about the younger man's rage, if anything he was amused. His eyes traveled over the disheveled figure balanced precariously on the chair, taking in the wildly curling hair and the snapping eyes and leered. He drawled mockingly, "Well, well, well... it's too bad that we don't have any time to play, or that you would rather play with fire than me. You are an absolutely delicious sight. My mouth is watering here." Blair's glare became scathing and the ex-spy reared back as if stung.

"Well if that is how you are going to play it, I'll just have to satisfy another appetite then won't I?" Blair's gaze warily followed his captor as he went to get a plate of food from the people who owned the establishment. Blair wondered what the ex-spy had told them when he was dragged in, tied and gagged, un-gagged and then re-gagged. A vision of Brackett telling the staff offhandedly, 'Oh, sorry, just blackmailing the policia into doing bad things for me, not to worry, you’ll get your cut.’ Blair sighed, if only as a means to stop the giggle that wanted to surface.

Brackett was saying nothing to him, not revealing any of his thoughts. For some reason the ‘Evil spy tells his secrets to the hapless victim’ sequence had gotten dropped from the script. Blair slouched in his seat, his head tipped forward as he stared at his toes. Time crawled by as he waited for Jim to show up.

Nunie snorted, and Blair flicked a glance at the shadows, wondering stupidly how the wolf had kept up with him when he was in Brackett’s car. But then, he was a spirit wolf, what did he need with a car anyway? ‘Shut up Sandburg, you’re going nuts… deep breaths, you’re panicking again.’ He took deep breaths.

He had almost managed to find his calm center when Brackett glanced at his watch. Jarred out of his meditation he was a bit fuzzy when Brackett turned to him and hissed, "Showtime!"

Brackett hauled him back to his feet and pushed him through the swinging doors that led to the restaurant proper, finding a table in the back of the empty room and setting Blair up in the chair facing the front door. From this angle he could see Jim’s truck as it pulled up in front of the building and Jim exiting the truck. At his side stalked Bagheera and suddenly Blair felt better.

Jim stood just inside the doorway, his eyes narrowed as he waited for them to adjust to the low light. The eyes went wide as he caught a look at Blair. Oh great, just what he needed. Humiliation over the gag in his mouth. He muffled a groan as he tipped his head down to hide the embarrassment behind his hair.

“Get that off of him.” Growled Jim. Brackett smirked as he stood, a gun raised to point at the cop.

“So I guess all that stuff about not being blackmailed was just tough talk, huh, Jim?” Brackett waved his gun and Jim stepped forward. Blair raised his eyes long enough to get a look at Jim, his hands on his hips as he pointedly didn’t look Blair’s direction.

“Cut to the chase, Brackett.” Jim waited. Blair shrugged as he looked at Bracket as well.

Brackett smiled again as he stepped forward, waving the gun to show he wanted Jim to open his jacket. “You know the drill, Ellison. And since I have your partner incapacitated over there, you shouldn’t think about trying to pull one over on me.”

Jim obliged the spy by revealing his weapon, handing it over when he was silently ordered to do so. “Since you couldn’t get the virus, this was your backup plan? Steal my friend?”

“He who holds the Guide, has the Sentinel by the balls, as it were.” Brackett waved towards the jacket and pants. “Empty your pockets on the table. Keys, combs, coins, wallets -- everything.”

Jim did so, with the exception of putting his badge on the table. “I'm not giving up my shield.”

Bracket nodded, waving a handheld device over the badge and shrugging. “Now the obvious things I'm supposed to find. I'll take the wire in your pants. Unless you want me to have Mr. Sandburg get it out for you.”

Jim removed the wire, dropping it where Brackett indicated and watching as the man crushed it under the heel of his boot. Blair sighed quietly, so much for being tracked by Simon and the others. Brackett waved another device around the sided of Jim’s face.

“All right, I'll take the protein transmitter.” He paused at Jim’s blank look. “Look, don't waste my time or yours. That molecular protein transmitter may be new to you cops but it's been on the covert black market ever since the Russians stole it. And this scanner makes it obsolete. Now, no more games. If you don’t do as told, I can simply kill you partner right here and now. All your best-laid plans just went to hell. We have work to do so we'd better get a move on. Or can you handle having his death on your conscience?”

“My conscience?” Jim growled. Brackett smirked as he helped Blair up with a hand under his shoulder, steering him towards the back of the restaurant.

“Certainly not mine. I’m parked out back, you will drive and Mr. Sandburg with sit in the back with me. Let’s move.”

o-O-o

When they arrived at the destination that Brackett had led them to, it was to find themselves outside an army facility. Jim parked and turned to lean over the seat, staring at Brackett, who had his arm around Blair’s waist, a gun in his side.

“What are we doing here, Brackett?” Jim asked. Blair remained as silent as a lamb with the gag still stuck between his teeth.

“Well as long as you are still in the dark, I am still one step ahead of you. Drive up to the shack.” Brackett directed. Jim glared at him once more before turning to drive once again. The guard that stepped out leaned over to look in the car. Blair ducked his head again to cover the gag.

“Identification please, gentlemen?” asked the guard. Blair felt the gun removed from his side and barely had time to grunt a strangled scream and shove hard at the rogue to throw his aim off balance before Brackett pulled the trigger. Jim pushed himself against the door knocking the guard away as well, keeping the man live if out cold.

Brackett began to curse as Blair bucked in his hands. Jim put himself between the gun and the guard, his face a mask of fury. “There'll be no murder on my watch.”

Brackett struggled to control Blair, finally putting the gun back against hi side and hissing in his ear, “You can die right here, I won’t care one way or another.”

“Blair!” Jim called. “It’s okay, calm down.”

Blair instantly stopped all movement, glaring back at Brackett to disguise the fear that tripped his heart. Jim moved the guard back into the shack and came to climb inside the car again. He turned and leaned over the back of the seat, his eyes on Blair but his words for Brackett. “He’ll behave. But you can take the gag off now, I think I have an idea of what’s going on. One of your ‘overthrow the government’ scenarios?”

“Someone's read my file.” Brackett smirked as he readjusted his position and settled himself back in the seat next to Blair. He didn’t move to take off the gag. Blair sighed. “That traitorous bastard Jack Kelso bring you up to speed on that?”

“You've got a lot of nerve calling anybody a traitor.” Jim smirked as he watched the gun.

Brackett rolled his eyes, “The republic that I swore allegiance to was overthrown years ago. The people in charge today -- they're the traitors. Let's go.”

Jim turned back to drive the car again. “Just a patriot out to save us from ourselves, huh?”

“You have no idea what your government's up to!” snapped the agent.

“Maybe not,” sniffed Jim as he drove, “but last time I checked my government wasn't kidnapping hapless grad students at gunpoint.”

o-O-o

They had driven as far as they could go and Brackett had dragged Blair out of the car, without un-gagging him or un-cuffing him. Blair’s wrists were beginning to chaff, as was his mouth, and he could really go for a sip of water right about now. He could also go for a nice relaxing night at home in front of the TV with Jim, pizza, beer and a game.

Instead he was staring down at a checkerboard styled bridge with red and black squares. Brackett was telling Jim all about it so Blair tried to pay attention.

“It's a grid of electrically triggered mines surrounded by a charged fence. They change the pattern every 24 hours. Your sentinel abilities are the only way to get across without a map. I figure you should be able to tell the difference between active and dormant mines. These banks are also charged. There's one way in, one way out.” Brackett shoved the gun deeper into Blair’s side, eliciting a groan from him. “And I’ll be keeping a watch on Mr. Sandburg here, if I don’t make it across alive, neither does he.”

Jim smiled patiently. “And what happens if I zone? You said it yourself, he’s my ‘Guide’. I need him to keep me grounded, so that means he stays with me.”

Brackett glared at Jim for a moment before shifting the gun away from Blair and pulling a collar out of his jacket pocket. “I thought you’d say that, so I have a backup plan.” He clipped the collar around Blair’s neck. There was an audible snickt, and a hum as from an electrical charge. Then the hum snapped away under white noise.

Brackett shoved Blair back towards Jim, “The collar holds a small charge, nothing major. Just enough to take his head clean off if I press the detonator. And if you are thinking of ditching me, the detonator has a deadman switch. I die, he goes boom!”

Brackett handed Jim the keys to the cuffs and waited impatiently as Jim released Blair’s hands and removed the gag. Blair sighed and unconsciously leaned into Jim a moment. He was still in danger, but now he could talk.

“You all right, Chief?” asked Jim as he massaged the sore wrists. Blair nodded once before glaring at Brackett.

“No thanks to Wacko over there.”

Bracket faked a yawn. “Oh how touching…” he smirked.

“You’re touched, all right, Brackett,” snarled Blair as he moved to stand behind Jim. He continued to work his mouth in odd positions to get the stiffness out of his lips and jaw. Jim held his ground, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes firmly fixed on Brackett, giving Blair all the time he needed.

Brackett allowed it for another few minutes before waving back at the bridge. “Any time you two are ready to get this show on the road?”

Jim leaned back a bit, leaning a shoulder into Blair, who leaned back to acknowledge his readiness. Then they went to work. It was slow going, with Jim using his out stretched foot as pointer for his sense of sound, square with hum they pass, square without hum is safe. Eventually they made it across without trouble, Blair being the perfect anchor for the Sentinel and keeping him from zoning or spiking.

Once they were all on the other side of the bridge, Brackett used a device on the control box. “There, now no one can come after us.”

“What did you do?” asked Blair. Jim looked at the box and growled.

“He set the entire bridge to be mined. There is no path through.”

Bracket smiled. “And now we have other things to attend to.” He waved his gun at them, directing them onward. Blair raised his hands and stepped back, turning and walking where indicated. They reached a building with a door and a combination lock with several lights above it. Brackett gestured towards the lock. “That's a motion sensor. Any jiggling with the lock will set off the alarm. So you'd better get it right the first time.”

Blair sighed. “Touch, Jim. Use touch to get it right, and listen to my heart to keep yourself from slipping.”

Jim nodded and set to work. He got it right on the first try. He opened the door and let Blair walk in first. Bracket stayed one step behind them as they entered a hanger. There in the center sat a stealth jet. Blair whistled low at the sight.

Brackett moved around the jet, his gun hand tracing the lines on the wing. “Gentlemen, the newest weapon in our country's arsenal -- the A.V.C.X.”

“Jim?” called Blair as he stepped loser to the jet. “Where are we?”

“This is a company skunk works,” Jim replied as he walked with Blair, one hand on his shoulder, “A secret development lab for the C.I.A.”

Brackett smiled, “That's right. And this is a one-of-a-kind prototype. Even Congress only suspects that it exists and the classified surveillance technology on board is priceless on the black market.”

Jim took another step forward as Brackett moved to get into the jet. "The Air Force'll be on your ass before you're out of local air space.”

Brackett chuckled, “I'll worry about that when it happens.”

Jim grabbed his arm, “What about the collar?”

Brackett looked back at Blair, “Ah yes… you do look fetching in that, Mr. Sandburg.”

Blair blushed deeply and Jim glared harder. Brackett smiled as he reached in his pocket and clicked off a button on a small handheld device, which he tossed back to Blair. He then wrenched his arm out of Jim’s grasp and climbed quickly into the cockpit of the jet. Blair looked at the device, perplexed to find that it was something as simple as a modified dog collar used to train dogs with an electric fence.

Jim looked at the device, and then the collar, and began to swear vehemently as he turned back to the jet. Blair stayed out of the way of the jet as Brackett began to fire up the engines. Jim climbed in and grabbed the agent around the neck, hauling him out and throwing him to the ground before switching off the engines. He then jumped down and snagged Brackett around the neck in a choke hold.

Blair stalked over, dark blue eyes locked on Brackett. He felt embarrassed and humiliated by the spy. He was angry and hurt by this entire ordeal. And it was all Brackett’s fault. He knelt down next to Brackett, who was struggling for breath as Jim held him tightly. “You think it’s funny to make a fool out of us, Mr. Brackett?”

Bracket drew in a breath, wheezing and struggling. Jim relaxed his hold a bit at Blair’s glance, and let the man breath. Brackett chuckled, “You have to admit, you were easily fooled.”

Blair rolled his eyes. “Misdirection and illusion. You wanted to keep Jim under control and you used me to do it. Big mistake.”

Brackett still smiled, “And how is that?”

Blair sighed dramatically as he patiently explained. “You have shown Jim that I am the weakness in his defense. Now I must show him that I am not weak, that I am not the hole in his defense. To grab me does not make him vulnerable. To do this… I must hurt you… maybe even kill you.”

Brackett stared back at him. “You wouldn’t.”

Blair rolled his eyes, “I could, I would… you do not scare me, Brackett. But then, I don’t need to bloody my hands. All I have to do is have my Sentinel twist just so…”

Jim began to twist Brackett’s head enough to put a crick in his neck, holding him perfectly still. Blair kept his eyes locked on Brackett’s. “You see Brackett, you called me Jim’s Guide. He would do anything I tell him to, just to protect me. You’ve seen this in the way he has acted. The only people who know about Jim and his abilities are in this room. The only three people who know about my role as his guide are in this room. In order to protect Jim and myself, we only need to eliminate you.”

"B-b-but he's a cop, sworn to protect and uphold the law, the people - killing me would be wrong,” Brackett began to stammer. Blair smiled sunnily, it didn't reach his eyes but he knew it would creep the double agent out. It did.

Brackett opened his mouth to say something, anything, that would save his neck but fell silent when Blair held up a hand. “Jim’s a Sentinel before he was a cop. The first law to a Sentinel… eliminate threats to his tribe.”

Blair leaned in close, “I’m his tribe, you are the threat. And your demise in this space could always be explained away as accidental. He never would come under suspicion. "

Brackett rolled his eyes upwards, obviously trying to see what Ellison thought of all this - the blank expression he was confronted with seemed to terrify him even more. Brackett's gaze snapped back to Blair and he stared, eyes wide with fright, at him as he came to realize that he was indeed out of options. Blair took that moment to nod, and Jim squeezed. Brackett passed out.

Blair chuckled, “Man you have got to show me how to do that Vulcan nerve pinch thing. It is so cool when it’s not being used on me.”

Jim grinned as he began to collect Brackett for the trip back home. Along the way, they had to stop the guards who were coming up to the bridge and warn them about the override that Brackett had set up. Then they had to explain themselves and get debriefed.

In all, the day was a frustrating wash. Carolyn and Joel had been able to find Brackett’s hideout, nearly got blown up, then they could only sit on their hands with Simon to wait for word from Jim. When they got it, they were all greatly relieved to find Blair safe and whole. He was surprised by their excitement that he had been found and it made him just a tiny bit pleased to know that he would have been missed.

o-O-o

While Jim finished out his report at the station, Blair went home. He was exhausted and still a bit shaken by the kidnapping and the rest of the events he had been a part of. The most frightening of these being Brackett’s knowledge of Jim’s abilities. It set Blair’s mind on edge to think that a simple and obscure paper had gotten him into so much trouble. He could only imagine what an entire dissertation on a Sentinel could bring about.

Sitting on the couch, beer in hand, Blair let his mind drift, opening his thoughts and letting his imaginations roam free in silence. He almost welcomed the vision as it slipped in through his defenses.

 _* Blair sits at the table, typing into his laptop. Naomi comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and startling him. Blair stands and hugs his mother. He turns and takes a page from the printer, places it in a box and locks it. ~flash~ Blair leaves the loft, his laptop still on. Naomi leans over it and sends an e-mail, along with a file, and presses send. ~flash~ Blair and Jim sit in the truck, the vehicle swarmed by press calling out questions, thrusting microphones into Jim’s face, asking if he is a Sentinel.*_

Blair sat up and stared across the room at the two spirit guides who appeared before him. “Shit…” he muttered. He stood, finished off the beer and went to throw the bottle away.

“Shit…” he muttered again as he looked around the loft, the place that had become like home to him. A place that could be taken away in an instant, in the time it took to make such a monumental mistake. “Shit.”

Nunie whined and Blair turned back to look at him, wrapped around Bagheera, both animals holding each other tightly. Blair sighed. Nunie was his spirit animal, he was certain. Bagheera could be Jim’s spirit animal. If that was the case, both animals were telling him that his first choice had to be his Sentinel… HIS Sentinel.

Blair picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. H waited until it was picked up before calmly saying, “I’m an idiot… I’ll see you sometime next week. I have a lot to learn.

Diane chuckled lightly. “I look forward to it, Leerling,” she replied before hanging up. Blair smiled and , after looking around the loft, move purposefully towards his bedroom. He had a lot of work to do.

o-O-o

Blair pulled the Corvair up in front of the old farm house with the yellow siding and white shutters, the curtains waving behind the open windows. Staring up at the house Blair muttered distractedly, "Damn, she is going to gloat I just know it." He sighed then said bracingly to himself, "Well, might as well get it over with." He took one more deep breath, then as he let it out slowly, got out of the car.

o-O-o

“…and that’s when I decided that I had to do something about all the notes and things. I couldn’t let this keep going.” Blair sipped his tea with one hand, setting the cup down so that he could pick up his cookie to take a bite. His other hand was occupied with stroking and petting Wordsworth as the large Maine Coon lounged on the chair next to him.

“Where is it all now?” asked Diane as she lifted Poe, the yappy Siamese, off of the table and into her lap as she sat nearby.

“I packed it all up and stuck it in the back of my car. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to store it here, in your attic.” Diane canted her head to the side in question and Blair quickly explained, “I still have to do tests and research for Jim, to be sure that he’s not lacking anywhere. But I don’t want any of that research, the test results, the ideas, any of it to see the light of day. It would be safer here than anywhere else while I’m still working on it.”

Diane nodded her understanding and Blair moved the boxes to the attic. He kissed her cheek on his way out. “I’d stay and talk some more, but…”

“But you still have some explaining to do to Jim, let alone the tap dancing you are going to have to do for your dissertation committee,” Diane finished for him, a smirk crossing her lips. “Go on; get out of here, Leerling. You can catch me up next time you come to add to that mess.”

Blair ducked his head in embarrassment before getting into his car and driving away. Hopefully Jim will be as understanding as Diane.

o-O-o

Blair walked into the loft only a few hours after he had left it. He couldn't get over how drastically different it felt now. The knick-knacks, throws and pillows were all still there and in place but all his testing paraphernalia was gone leaving it looking curiously bare.

Shaking off the odd feeling Blair glanced up at the clock and realized that Jim was late getting home from work, which would mean a bad day. He immediately began the prep work on a beef stir fry for dinner, sorting and slicing vegetables and beef strips.

While he worked he imagined all the different scenarios of how he was going to explain the change in their working relationship. He was pretty certain he had it all figured out. The vegetables and beef were frying along in the wok when Jim came home.

The older man smiled at his roommate's dinner preparations, but then he seemed to notice something. He stopped in the middle of the living room and turned around in a slow 360. Then he again came to a stop, this time facing Blair. His head tilted as he asked cryptically, "Where is it all?"

Blair just raised an eyebrow in reply and replied blandly, "Where is what Jim?"  
He went to get his friend a beer, hoping to distract him. The Sentinel didn't fall for the line or the gesture. Jim didn’t move from his spot, only stared at Blair harder.

"“It… all of it… the notes, the testing diagrams, the journals… where is it?” Jim asked, truly perplexed. Well, Blair had wanted an opening to explain his decision, and Jim gave it to him.

“It’s safe… put away. For now.” He tossed the food one last time before dishing out two plates and carrying them to the table along with forks. Jim still wasn’t moving except to stand up straighter, hands shoved into hips.

“For now? Until when, Sandburg? In case you don't remember your ride along with me and your gig at the Rainier hinges on the work you need to get done." Jim insisted as he moved around Blair and pulled out another bottle of beer to have with dinner. Blair smiled, this played right into discussion leader number 2. He began accordingly.

“Yes, and as soon as this last round of exams is finished, I intend to get right on that. Not only do I have to get started with the interviews—“

“Interviews?” Jim interrupted. “Interviews with who? You already interviewed Simon and Carolyn, and I still don’t know how you got information out of Caro without telling her about the Sentinel abilities, but who else would you need to interview and why?”

Blair rolled his eyes and chuckled. “No man, not character interviews. Well, actually that depends. See, I need subject matter from guys in other departments. Then I need to set aside some time to visit a few other precincts too.”

Jim stared at him for a few minutes, chewing a forkful of food thoughtfully. Finally when he swallowed, he asked, “Why?”

Blair smiled, “Because I am going to go to my dissertation committee and tell them 'Hey, you were right, turns out I don't have a line on a Sentinel and so I can't do my dissertation on them.' Then I am going to tell them that I have been talking to my friend the cop who took me in after my warehouse was razed and that it gave me the idea to do my diss on closed societies, the PD in particular. Means I have to have something to give them to show them my idea is on the level and will work."

Jim canted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. “Why?” he asked again and then clarified, "It's not that I'm not following your logic, I just don't get your reasons for doing it."

Blair shrugged, "Let’s just say that Brackett's little visit raised a few concerns."

Jim shook his head, “But… we had a deal. You help me with the senses, I let you write about me for your Ph.D. So what, you’re changing the rules now?”

“Nope, I'll still help you with the senses and I'll still write about you, but not publicly. The only thing changed is the public topic of discussion for my diss.” Blair ate in silence as Jim mulled this over.

You're going to write about the Police Department, the whole ‘Thin Blue Line’ thing, and you'll still have to work with me at the station to get your information for it, right?"Jim clarified.

“Yup.” Blair replied. He finished his beer and sat back, burping softly over his dinner before standing to clean his mess. Jim stared at his plate of food, concern still causing him to frown.

“But, then… what about your dreams of writing about a Sentinel?”

Blair set the plate in the sink and came back to sit across the table from his friend. He took up one of Jim’s hands in his own and squeezed gently, smiling when Jim looked up to match his gaze. “Jim, I know I told you that I wanted to write about you and maybe help others who had been misdiagnosed with my dissertation, but really my biggest dream was to find a Sentinel. To help him. I mainly told you what I did because you needed it, you wanted to know you weren't getting something for nothing so that you could justify accepting my help to yourself. But now I think you can understand it isn't about that at all."

"No," Jim said slowly. "It's not is it? It's about friendship and you being a decent person inside no matter what your outsides look like."

"Hey!" Blair bleated in playful offence and tossed a dishtowel at Jim.

Jim sat back and watched his roommate, friend, thoughtfully as he puttered around the kitchen. then he said, "You’re telling me the truth. You’re not upset about this. You really don't mind changing your whole focus of study just because it _*might*_ be a problem."

It was a statement of fact, not a question. Blair smiled again. “Maybe one day I can write that dissertation. To help others, now that I know that Sentinels are real. But for now, it’s more dangerous to you than helpful.”

"Dangerous to me?" Jim asked, the lost look seeping into his eyes again. Blair just smiled ruefully and said,

"Jim, Brackett's foray into blackmail has shown both of us that anyone with the connections and half a brain can put two and two together, if they have access to any information about you. What should be the biggest secret in the history of secrets... well that would hurt you, and me. Not healthy to say the least. Never mind if the press got a hold of it, they wouldn't leave us alone. Taking a few moments of time to think things through, I resolved it wasn't going to happen if I could help it. Can you blame me?"

Blair didn't wait for an answer, he was pretty sure Jim would see it his way. Instead he turned back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up. Jim cleared his throat and said, "No, I guess not. Thanks.”

They didn’t talk about it anymore that night, or ever again for that matter. Jim left it all in Blair’s hands, trusting him. They still did the tests, Blair wasn't going to welch on his promise about helping the other man with his abilities, but any data was coded so that no-one would be able to figure out what it was about. Then when Blair needed to, he updated his files with a quick run out to Diane's house and always took advantage of the time to visit. Life was good - for the moment.


End file.
